Apparatus for cleaning and curing smoking pipes



Jan. 19, 1954 B. L. PIRA EI'AL 2,666,433

APPARATUS FOR cumumc AND CURING SMOKING PIPES 1 Filed Nov. 15, 1948 mgrqlzs Patented Jan. 19, 1954 TENT QFFICE APPARATUS FOR CLEANING AND CURING SMOKING PIPES Buddie Lee Pira and Lucien V. Gadal, Santa Ana, Calif.

Application November 15, 1948, Serial No. 60,082

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to-a method of cleaning the bowls and stems of tobacco pipes, and of curing or seasoning a pipe by impregnating the bowl and/or the accumulated cake in the bowl with a pleasing aroma or flavor, and to apparatus for carrying into eifect the stated method.

It is an object of this invention to provide a method, and apparatus suitable therefor, for thoroughly removing from a pipe the usual accumulations of saliva, nicotinic oil, and other liquid residues of tobacco and for leaving the cake of a pipe and the uncaked interior surfaces of the pipe in a clean, dry, and porous condition.

A further object of the invention is to provide a method, and apparatus suitable therefor, which as a step continuous and consecutive to the step above-mentioned, will impregnate the clean bowl of a pipe with a pleasing flavor.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a method, and apparatus suitable therefor, by which, in consecutive steps and without disturbing or removing the pipe, a pipe may be thoroughly cleaned of undesirable liquid accumulations and may be flavored in accordance with the smokers desire.

While the invention is primarily intended for use in connection with pipes which have been smoked and which have accumulated a cake of carbon deposit, it may also be used in connection with new pipes and it is another object of the invention to provide a method, and apparatus suitable therefor, for removing from the bowl of a new pipe residues of oil with which the brier or other pipe material may have been treated, and thereby to render the brier permeable to vapor, and then for substituting for said oily residues selected vapor-borne flavoring extracts.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide apparatus suitable for carrying into effect the above stated objects, which may advantageously be used in pipe shops, cigar stores, drug it stores, and like business places to clean and cure a number cfpipes simultaneously.

The invention possesses other objects and valuable features, some of which, with those enumerated, will be set forth in the following description of our method and of a preferred embodiment of our invention, and of a modification thereof, illustrated in the drawing accompanying and forming a part of this application. It is to be understood that we do not limit ourselves to the showing made by the said drawing and description, as we may adopt variations of both method and apparatus within the scope of our invention as defined by the appended claim.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of apparatus embodying a preferred form of our invention;

Fig. 2 is a top plan View showing more particularly means for conducting vapors to a pipe;

Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical sectional View, taken on the plane of section indicated by the line 3-3 of Fig. 2, with the direction of view as indicated by the arrows; and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary top plan view showing a modified form of vapor-conducting means by which a plurality of pipes may be treated simultaneously.

Pipe smokers are well aware that merely cleaning the bowl and stem of a pipe with a wire or a cotton swab, however necessary to make the pipe draw, will remove only the bitterness of free nicotine and the nicotine-and-saliva soaked fragments of dottle, and will not convert a strong ipe to mildness. Smokers long ago found that the flavorof a pipe could be improved by occasionally steam-cleaning the pipe; and apparatus for blowing steam through a pipe has varied from the simple exhaust valve of a steam radiator to more specialized devices upon which patents have issued. Likewise smokers have delighted in flavoring their smoke with a liquor, rum being perhaps most frequently used for this purpose; and the methods used have comprised adding rum or other liquor to the tobacco, or soaking the bowl of a new pipe in rum, or artificially building a rum-flavored cake in a new pipe before smoking the pipe. It is noteworthy that the literature of smoking, which is quite extensive, offers few suggestions for flavoring an old pipe, other than the obvious suggestion of flavoring the tobacco.

We have found that steam-cleaning a pipe, even though carried out for a long period of time, will not entirely remove the gummy or oily residues accumulated in the pipe as a result of smoking or of oil-soaking as a step in manufacture. As may be seen when a pipe is reamed to remove accumulated cake, the cake of carbon is crystalline in structure, with minute interstices between the carbon crystals. The gummy nicotinic residues tend to fill these inter tices and to remain therein despite prolonged steam-cleaning. Similarly, oils impregnating the pores of a new brier pipe bowl are not easily removed, the process of baking them out by heat taking days, according to patentees of processes therefor. It is probably because of the resistance and opposition presented by nicotinic gums and soaked-in oils, that hitherto it has been recommended that flavoring be given to a pipe in the form of 3 flavored cakes artificially formed and burned onto existing surfaces or in the form of flavors added to the tobacco.

On the other hand we have found that when alcohol vapor is added to the steam with which a pipe is cleaned, the oils and the nicotinic gums are readily and rapidly dissolved and the wood pores and the inter-crystalline interstices of a carbon cake are cleaned and opened, the resultant structure being porous and receptive to new flavors. Experimentation has shown that when steam alone is blown through a tobaccopipe which has been smoked until a cake has accumulated, the steam condensate will at first carry a great deal of discoloring matter and will eventually but only after a long period of time, becoine'clear, indicating that the pipe has been cleaned. However, it may be easily demonstrated, by adding alcohol vapors to the steam, that not all the gums have been removed. The addition of alcohol vapors to the steam will cause the condensate to become discolored again, as additional gummy residues are removed. The alcohol vapors appear to have penetrati've and dissolving powers not possessed by the steam alone, and enter and clean the crystalline structure of the cake to a considerable depth. Furthermore, if the alcohol vapors are added to the steam at the beginning of the cleaning operation, the condensate is at first violently discolored but becomes clear in a short time, indicating that the cleaning process achieved by the mixture is not only thorough but also rapid.

Accordingly, in our method of cleaning and curing a tobacco pipe we use a mixture of steam and the vapor from an alcoholic liquid, preferably a beverage of pleasing aroma, as a cleaning agent and then as a curing agent, the proportions of the mixture being variable according to the nature of the immediate work. It is possible to clean effectively with the vapors of the alcoholic liquid alone, but for various reasons this may be uneconomical. For one reason, the boiling point of the alcoholic liquid will be lower than that of water. The temperature of the cleaning vapor undoubtedly has an important effect upon the cleaning power of the vapor, and the addition of steam elevates the temperature of the mixture. For another reason, the velocity and the force of impact of the vapor upon the cake surfaces also appears to influence the penetrative eiTect, and much of the mass of the mixture necessary to achieve a satisfactory impact may more economically be gained by distillation from water. Yet again, it is not desirable to boil the alcoholic beverage violently, as it will soon lose both its alcohol and its aroma if boiled too vigorously. It is therefore desirable to maintain the alcoholic beverage at only a simmer or even heated only to less than a simmering temperature, and to use steam as an entraining or aspirating force. The

vapor pressure above the alcoholic beverage may thusbe regulated by the steam, and the emana 'tion of aromatics and of alcoholic vapors may be controlled.

We therefore prefer to begin the cleaning operation by heating water and an aromatic a1co holic liquid, such as rum, in separate chambers,

and to 'diiierent temperatures, the water being brought to a boil to produce steam, and the rum or other alcoholic liquid being relatively cool and not actively boiling. The steam generated from the water may then be introduced to the bowl of the pipe, to heat the bowl. Preferably the steam is conducted from the water chamber to the pipe in such a manner that it may act as an aspirator upon the chamber containing the rum, so that when the latter chamber is opened to the conductive system the vapor pressure above the rum will be lowered, the rum will be caused to emanate alcoholic vapors, and the vapors so emanated will be mixed with the steam and. carried at high temperature and high velocity to the pipe. The concentration of alcoholic vapor in the mixture should, naturally, be sumcient to accomplish the required cleaning but may vary according to the operators estimate of the Work to be done, the time available, and the requisites of economy.

The condensate from the pipe may be caught in a suitable vessel and the degree of cleaning achieved may be determined from the color of the condensate. As the cleaning approaches completion, it is usually desirable to increase the concentration of alcoholic vapor in the cleaning mixture, and this may be done either by opening a control valve to the chamber containing the rum or by increasing the temperature of the rum, or'by both such steps. Preferably heat is applied to the rum chamber at a slower rate thanto the water chamber, but at a rate which will bring the rum to a mild boil without the use of steam aspiration at the end of'a'period oftime sufficient for adequate cleaningof the pipe.

Vifhen the color of the condensate from the pipe indicates that the pipe has been satisfactorily cleaned, the steam from the water chamber may be substantially or'entirely shut off, and vapors from the rum maybe admitted to the pipe in substantially full concentration. The inter-crystalline spaces of the cake will now be open to receive the rum vapor. In the 'absence'of both the velocity and the temperature of the steam, the rum vapor will permeate the inter-crystalline spaces of the cake and will in part condense therein, filling the clean cake with-a rum flavor.

It will be understood that other beverages, such as brandy or whiskey or liqueurs of various 'flavors, may be used instead of rum, so that the smoker may have a choice of flavors. 'It Willalso be underst'oodthat the above treatment may be applied to a new pipe to-remove oil from thewood pores and to fill the pores with flavor.

To carry into effectth'e above-described method of cleaning and curing a'pipe wehave devised an apparatus which will now be described in detail. Having reference to the details of the drawings, a boiler 'E is provided with a central partition 8 which divides the boiler into two chambers 9 and ill. As herein illustrated the chamber 9 is intended to hold water and the chamber iii-is intended to hold an aromatic alcoholic'liquid. The partition 8 may extend below the bottom ii of theboiler, as may a flange 12 around th bottom H, and the space below the chamber ii] defined by the flange 12, the bottom 1 i and the extension of the partition 8 may contain a pad E3 of asbestos or other insulating material.

The'boiler l is adapted'to stand uponastand M which has one end lt encompassed by'an-upstanding flange 15, adapted to hold the boiler concentrically, and has its other end extended into a drip pan l'l encompassed'by an upstanding fiang 'it. The end It or the stand it holds 'a hcatingeleinent [9 (see Fig. 3) which may be an electric resistance coil connected to a suitable source of electricity by a cable'20, and the drip pan I? may be shaped to hold at its outer end a beaker or glass, not shown, for receiving condensate. Legs 25 may be provided on the stand is 'for supporting the heating element 19 at a suitable height-aboveatable or counter.

The boiler 1 may be provided with gauge glasses 24 for indicating the level of liquids in the chambers 9 and 19. It is also preferably provided with combination pressure and safety gauges 25, one for each of the chambers 9 and I0, of the type now commonly available for use on autoclaves and pressure-cookers. The gauges 25 may be removabl threaded into unions 20, communicating with the chambers 9 and i9 and providing orifices through which the chambers may be filled and emptied.

To conduct steam and vapors from the chambers 9 and Hi to a smoking pipe, outlet pipes 28 and 29 communicate respectively with the upper, or vapor storage, portions of said chambers through unions 30. The outlet pipes 29 and 29 are provided with valves 35 and by which the flow through the outlet pipes may be selectively regulated, and meet to form a pipe or conduit 33 in which the steam and aromatic vapors may b mixed. The angle at which the outlet pipes 28 and 29 meet, as shown at 39, is such that a strong flow in either pipe will cause flow in the other pipe by aspiration, if the valve 3| or 32 of the other pipe so permits. If the angle between pipes 28 and 29 does not exceed 90 degrees and the angle between pipe 33 and each of pipes 28 and 29 does exceed 90 degrees, as shown in Fig. 4, a satisfactory aspirating angle will be established in the forked conduit which comprises the three pipes.

The conduit 33 comprises at its distal end a ball fitting 35 adapted to fit within the bowl of a tobacco pipe. The fitting 36 may suitably be of rubber or other resilient material capable of packing within a pipe bowl to prevent the escape of steam between the bowl and the fitting. An arm 31 extends from the lower side of the conduit 33 and has a forked end 39 adapted to engage the stem of a pipe. A bail 39, of coiled spring wire, has its ends held by a cross-bar 49 secured to the upper side of the con-duit 33, and is adapted to hold a pipe stem securely in the fork 38 so that the pipe bowl is pressed over the resilient fitting 36, the pipe stem then extending downwardly toward the drip pan I1.

The insulation pad 13 restricts the entry of heat into the rum-holding chamber 10, so as to permit water in th chamber 9 to heat faster than the rum and to come to a boil while or before the rum begins to simmer. because the rum vapor will initially be used sparingly and less latent heat will be required in and drawn from the chamber [0 than in and from the chamber 9, the rum in the chamber will gradually reach a temperature at which it may boil freely Without the aspirating assistance of steam from the chamber 9.

The gauge 25 on the chamber H3 containing alcoholic liquid may be set for atmospheric pressure and the gauge 25 on the chamber 9 containing water may be set for a low steam pressure. When th gauge 25 on the chamber 9 releases pressure, the valve 3! may be opened to admit steam to the tobacco pipe. After a few moments, and preferably before the alcoholic liquid in the chamber 10 becomes so heated that the gauge 25 on that chamber begins actively to release pressure, the valve 32 may be opened to permit aspiration of alcoholic vapor from the chamber 10. By later closing the valve 3| and allowing steam to blow off through the gauge Nevertheless,

25 on the water chamber, the vapor efilux passing through conduit 33 may be changed from a mixture of steam and alcoholic vapor to an efllux of pure vapor from the chamber [0. This change may be made gradually as the alcoholic liquid absorbs more heat. Then by manipulation of the gauge 25 on the chamber l9 and of the valve 32, the pressure and velocity of the alcoholic vaporous elilux may be adjusted as desired, the gauge 25 becoming a means for regulating velocity in the conduit 33, as well as a pressure indicator.

In Fig. 4, we have illustrate-d a modified form of conduit in which the conduit .33 is provided with a manifold 42 having a plurality of subconduits 39, each fitted with a resilient fitting 36, arm 3? and fork 38, and spring bail 39 for holding a pip as shown at 45. The sub-conduits M are each provided with a shut-off valve 49, so that they may be made individually active or inactive as may be desired. By means of the manifold 52 a number of pipes may be cleaned and cured simultaneously, as may be desirable in a pipe-shop.

We claim:

An apparatus for cleaning and curing a tobacco smoking pipe comprising: a platform having an electric heating unit therein; a container having a bottom provided with an insulating material under substantially one-half of the bottom thereof; a partition within said container defining within the container two chambers, one of said chambers having at its bottom said insulating material; the upper end of each of said chambers having a valved outlet connected thereto; a conduit connected to each of said outlets, said conduits having ends merging at an acute angle; another conduit extending from the point of mergence of said first-mentioned conduits and provided with a nozzl at its free end adapted to receive the bowl of a smoking pipe; and means for holding the bowl in sealed relation with said nozzle; whereby the vapors of two liquids having differing boiling points may be selectively introduced into said pipe in a variety of mixtures by aspiration of one vapor by the other, said vapors being generated in said chambers.

BUDDIE LEE PIRA. LUCIEN V. GADAL.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 552,656 Anderson et a1 Jan. 7, 1896 594,056 Yarnold et a1 Nov. 23, 1897 650,249 Hodge May 22, 1900 802,596 Ramsay Oct. 24, 1905 1,037,029 Lukacs Aug. 27, 1912 ,652,349 Coulshaw Dec. 13, 1927 1,933,056 Hamilton Oct. 31, 1933 1,934,826 shepherd NOV. 14, 1933 2,065,462 Olsson Dec. 22, 1936 2,109,547 Moll Mar. 1, 1938 2,447,084 Moore Aug. 17, 1948 2,485,730 Schechter Oct. 25, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 239,391 Great Britain Sept. 10, 1925 

